Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

Introduction. Also, read such publications as Organic Gardening, Sunset, Mother Earth News, etc., and the gardening section of your local newspaper.

Safety and Security!
    Unfortunately we must include a security chapter in this book. You must keep your crop secure from police and thieves alike. Ironically, the police will cause you more problems than thieves!
    Successful indoor growers are good citizens and keep a low profile. They keep their yard and home clean and in excellent repair. They always drive a street-legal car and there are no outstanding warrants on the drivers. Remember, an overdue traffic ticket turns into a warrant for the violator’s arrest. Smart growers pay bills on time, are nice to neighbors, and do not throw noisy, wild, crazy parties.
    Do not throw out any garbage that could prove that you grow. Cops pick through it like rats to find evidence to make a case against gardeners. Growers live by the motto “loose lips sink ships.”
    Never have seeds or grow products sent directly to your home.
    Growers and takers have been made into “the enemy” by the American government in the War on Drugs. It is the job of law enforcement to arrest the flower-growing enemy. To wage this war on US citizens, law enforcement wields an impressive arsenal, including draconian laws, misinformation and high-tech surveillance gizmos.
    The cardinal rule of growing is: Never tell anybody about any garden.
    Clandestine growing is as simple as the name implies. The name of the game is secrecy. Tell nobody and cause no suspicion. Countless underground growers have been harvesting crop after crop for decades in Drug War-torn America. These benevolent souls supply much of America today.
    Stay away from other grow houses, wild parties, real criminals, etc. Always take a friend’s car to the grow store and go seldom. Travel with others whenever possible. Your car is easy to trace and follow. Keep your consumption habits reasonable; don’t show large cash income. Buy large assets, houses and cars, over time. Don’t ever tell anybody you are growing or even joke about growing. Always have a job and a reason for your activities. Keep a low profile.
    Keep your home and surrounding property in good repair. Make sure the house is painted, lawn mowed, and garbage picked up. Keep electrical use to a reasonable amount, and keep the air clean around the house. Have very few visitors, and keep to yourself. Have minimal conversations with neighbors.
    Never trust anybody-friends, family-brother, sister, children, even your mother! In America, “Land of the Free,” a grower can go to jail just for giving another grower advice! The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations [Act] (RICO) conspiracy laws were enacted to break up the Mafia. Today RICO laws are used against growers and non-growers alike. Under the law, a person that advises a grower to “water in the morning” is equally guilty of growing the marijuana garden, even if he never saw the garden. RICO laws tread on the very essence of the American Constitution.

A guard dog is one of the best deterrents against thieves.
    The new Homeland Security Act further erodes personal rights of individuals.
    Never visit or telephone other growers. If visiting another grow room, that grower can implicate you with circumstantial evidence, and you are considered as guilty as the grower!
    DO NOT use booby traps, bear traps, firearms attached to tripwires, etc., to protect your crop
    I know of people who use infrared systems that take pictures and/or start recording video when an object of particular size/temperature enters the vicinity.
    Depending upon the country in which you live, law enforcement must first have a search warrant to use infrared or thermo imaging devices to secure a search warrant. But if they have a search warrant, such high-tech snooping is perfectly legal. If you want to take a look at what they see, rent heat-sensitive night-vision glasses from your local military supply store, or take a photo of the outside of your grow operation with infrared film. You can also add a filter to your digital camera and convert the photographs with a few clicks of Photoshop to show heat signatures.
    Law enforcement has sophisticated telephone bugging devices, super-sensitive directional microphones, infrared scopes, thermal imaging, etc. They can also subpoena telephone, Internet, and electrical company records. Intimidating cops coerce electric company employees to break the